On April 7, 2020, the Prime Minister held the 27th meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants discussed the response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“At this morning’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Basic Action Policy, it provided the opinion that, regarding the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), patients very frequently develop severe symptoms, such as pneumonia, thereby posing the risk of greatly harming citizens’ lives and health; there are many cases in which it is difficult to identify the respective routes of transmission; and a rapid increase in the number of cases has been confirmed and medical systems are being stretched.

Amidst such circumstances, we determine that a situation has emerged which could impact the daily lives of the people and the national economy through the rapid and nationwide spread of infections, and are issuing a declaration of a state of emergency, in accordance with Article 32, Paragraph 1 of the amended Act on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response.

The period during which the emergency situation measures are being implemented is one month, from April 7 today to May 6, 2020. Seven prefectures will be subject to the declaration: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka. When it is determined that the implementation of these measures is no longer necessary from the status of the spread of infections, among others, we will swiftly lift the state of emergency.

At the press conference following this meeting, I will also explain this to the public in detail; even with the declaration of a state of emergency, it is not aimed at enforcing the lockdowns of cities as seen abroad. There is no change in Japan’s approach to prevent the spread of infections by asking citizens to avoid the 3Cs (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact setting), among other measures, while maintaining the necessary socio-economic services, such as public transportation, to the extent possible.

Meanwhile, in order to improve the effectiveness of the emergency situation measures and prevent the explosive spread of infections, we need to ask for the sufficient cooperation of each and every citizen, in accordance with the recently revised basic action policy. This includes full cooperation with the request to refrain from going outside and other requests issued by prefectural governments, as well as continuing certain businesses in order to maintain social functions.

Most important of all is the modification of citizens’ behaviors, in other words, to change how they behave. According to the estimation by experts, if all of us strive to reduce opportunities for people-to-people contact by at least 70% or ideally 80%, the increase in infections will peak after two weeks and start to decline.

We ask for the cooperation of citizens in refraining from going outside, with the target of 70% to 80% reduction, for the limited period of one month until May 6, the end of the Golden Week holiday period, which includes a period to assess the impacts of these measures.

In light of this national crisis, the government will prioritize the protection of the lives and health of the public and advance measures to prevent the spread of infections in close collaboration with the prefectural governments and other stakeholders. I ask that all of you continue to exert every effort to implement measures in accordance with the basic action policy.”